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"
But," said I, "the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as ever.
How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about
devil's seats,' 'death's heads,' and 'bishop's hotels?'"
'
"
I confess," replied Legrand, "that the matter still wears a serious
aspect, when regarded with a casual glance. My first endeavor was
to divide the sentence into the natural division intended by the
cryptographist."
"
"
"
"
You mean, to punctuate it?"
Something of that kind."
But how was it possible to effect this?"
I reflected that it had been a point with the writer to run his words
together without division, so as to increase the difficulty of solution.
Now, a not over-acute man, in pursuing such an object would be nearly
certain to overdo the matter. When, in the course of his composition, he
arrived at a break in his subject which would naturally require a pause,
or a point, he would be exceedingly apt to run his characters, at this
place, more than usually close together. If you will observe the MS., in
the present instance, you will easily detect five such cases of unusual
crowding. Acting upon this hint, I made the division thus: 'A good
glass in the Bishop's hostel in the Devil's seat--forty-one degrees and
170
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